Stag Nation

Especially on Tuesday evenings.

So Hearts and PT will have to go before an SFA panel to explain why they went to court. Answer - "We didnae trust an SFA panel". That will go down well.

No, he didn't. He said that "delaying action unit reconstruction couldn't happen" was reasonable and hadn't damaged their case, but that they went about things the WRONG way by going to court at all. That's why it's now subject to arbitration.

The SFA is the governing body for all football in Scotland. In which parallel universe would it NOT be under her jurisdiction?

I've just read the rules. They are only responsible "before, during or at the close of a match". Certainly not in the middle of the close season.

Apart from the virus crisis, non-league seems to be in pretty good health, except the WOS where you imagine there's a problem.

Have I missed several promotions?

Can you name anyone at Ibrox who is clever enough for that? He or she has been conspicuous in his absence for the past decade.

If your team is massively weaker than last season you'll be lucky to avoid relegation to L1.

But Shirley .... it's not something the LL can change unilaterally?

Clydebank 1989?

Clydebank 1965?

Sorry, did I imagine reconstruction being explored (by a group led by Successful Businesswoman Ann Budge), but rejected by the league membership?

Bullies tend not to pick on people bigger than themselves.

No, AFAIK there's no libel in Scots Law. They may be "defamatory".

You can repeat it as often as you like, but the SPFL is NOT a private club. It is a limited company. Rules 49(b) seems to give the panel the necessary powers: "The tribunal's award may ... order a party to do or refrain from doing something (including ordering the performance of a contractual obligation"

There's been nothing to stop the top junior teams applying for membership of the Scottish League over the last 100 years, when vacancies occurred.

Do exactly the same? Die while striving for an unachievable objective?

They really are grasping at straws to claim the order for discovery of documents as a victory. The arbitration panel have the power to order disclosure, so they could have had that without the six-figure legal bill they're now facing ...

Any particuar reason why not?

He wasn't acting as an arbiter.

This is what the Department of Justice in England say about disclosure in civil cases. I can't imagine the Scottish courts' view being much different. "The purpose of “disclosure” is to make sure that both or all parties know of all documents that have a bearing on the case.. Here, “document” means any form of recorded information, not just writing on paper. It includes, for example, pictures, emails, mobile phone texts, social networking messages or video-clips. You must disclose all relevant documents that you now have or that you have had or that are held by someone else who would be obliged to give them to you or let you inspect them or have copies of them if asked or that were held by such a person You must disclose documents that are harmful to your case just as much as those that are helpful to it. You must actively search for disclosable documents that you may have, though you may limit your search to what is reasonable."

No we won't. It's disclosure "to the tribunal", not to P & B.

So SFA can impose a solution as opposed to Hearts and Thistle having to agree ? The independent arbitration panel impose the solution., which is final and binding. The whole process is subject to the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010. An appeal to the courts is only possible if the process is not followed correctly, or a point of law is in dispute.

They're not involved, apart from facilitating the process. There will be a panel of three. One chosen by each side, and an independent chairman - agreed by the other two - who must be a senior lawyer or judge. It's all in the SFA's Areticle 99.